ABSTRACT
In the last two decades, Portugal witnessed deep social-cultural transformations regarding gender norms and is currently on par with the EU in terms of legislation concerning the compliance towards international regimes of gender equality and the protection of women's rights. Media visibility of gender-based violence and public awareness of the seriousness of sexual violence have also been increasing. Nonetheless, sexual violence is still pervasive in the country and the journalistic practices that cover it are marked by diversity, tensions, contradictions, improvements and setbacks. While providing an overview of trends and patterns of sexual violence news coverage in Portugal, we will focus our attention on four of the most mediatic rape stories in the first two decades of the 21st century: the Casa Pia ring of sexual exploitation of children and teenagers, the Telheiras rapist, the Gaia verdict and the rape allegation against the national football icon Cristiano Ronaldo. Stemming from a critical, intersectional and feminist perspective, we will analyse how these stories were covered by mainstream media and map the diversity of journalism practices that were mobilised aiming to explore how rape stories are framed and mediated in Portuguese media. We will examine whether and how hierarchies of privilege and discrimination regarding class, gender, race and nationality inform Portuguese media coverage of sexual violence and explore its implications concerning the (re)production of rape myths and scripts in tandem with patriarchal imaginaries in today's neo-liberal age.
